The Pit
contributor: Eric Lease Morgan (Infomotions, Inc.)
creator: Norris, Frank
date: 0000-00-00
extent: 744730
format: text/plain
language: en
publisher: Wiretap Electronic Text Archive
rights: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/GPL/2.0/
source: pit.txt
subject: laura
subject: jadwin
subject: wheat
subject: page
subject: time
subject: cressler
subject: internet
subject: wiretap
subject: electronic
subject: edition
subject: pit
subject: story
subject: chicago
subject: frank
subject: norris
subject: john
subject: hamm
subject: mindlink
subject: public
subject: domain
subject: american
subject: literature
type: text
local mirror: norris-pit-224.txt
concordance: http://infomotions.com/alex/cgi-bin/concordance.pl
plain html: norris-pit-224.htm
sort title: Pit, The
full text: THE INTERNET WIRETAP ELECTRONIC EDITION OF The Pit A Story of Chicago By Frank Norris 1903 Prepared by John Hamm <John_Hamm@MindLink.bc.ca> This text is in the PUBLIC DOMAIN, released December 1993 Scanned with OmniPage Professional OCR software donated by Caere Corporation. Dedicated to My Brother Charles Tolman Norris In memory of certain lamentable tales of the bound (dining-room) table heroes; of the epic of the pewter platoons, and the romance-cycle of "Gaston Le Fox," which we invented, maintained, and found marvellous at a time when we both were boys. The PlT I At eight o'clock in the inner vestibule of the Auditorium Theatre by the window of the box office, Laura Dearborn, her younger sister Page, and their aunt--Aunt Wess'--were still waiting for the rest of the theatre-party to appear. A great, slow-moving press of men and women in evening dress filled the vestibule from one wall to another. A confused murmur of talk and the shuffling of many feet arose on all sides, while from time to time, when the outside and inside doors of the entrance chanced to be open simultaneously, a sudden draught of air gushed in, damp, glacial, and edged with the penetrating keenness of a Chicago evening at the end of February. The Italian Grand Opera Company gave one of the most popular pieces of its repertoire on that particular night, and the Cresslers had invited the two sisters and their aunt to share their box with them. It had been arranged that the party should assemble in the Auditorium vestibule at a quarter of eight; but by now the quarter was gone and the Cresslers still failed to arrive. "I don't see," murmured Laura anxiously for the last time, "what can be keeping them. Are you sure Page that Mrs. Cressler meant here--inside?" She was a tall young girl of about twenty-two or three, holding herself erect and with fine dignity. Even beneath the opera cloak it was easy to infer that her neck and shoulders were beautiful. Her almost extreme slenderness was, however,…